'Chuck-a-palooza' kicks off GVSU spring football

Grand Rapids Press File PhotoGrand Valley State football coach Chuck Martin and his vest will be in the spotlight as the Lakers kick off their spring football practice.

ALLENDALE -- When Grand Valley State football coach Chuck Martin first inquired about starting spring practice in the new Laker Turf Building, he found out it was booked for a soccer tournament Saturday. Sunday, too.

Jokingly, he asked if it was booked at midnight.

The punch line is that the Lakers football team will take a page from basketball programs across the country and do a free "Midnight Madness" to start spring practice, and they are fittingly calling it "Chuck-a-palooza."

It starts at 11:45 tonight in the Laker Turf Building and will last into Saturday morning. Fans will be allowed to watch the first practices that will lead up to the annual spring game on April 11.

"The next part I thought is that we ought to do something for our students, a student appreciation thing because thousands of them support us," said Martin, who will wear a microphone at the event.

"I'm not a marketing guy, so I took it to marketing and they ran with it."

Doug Lipinski, associate director of athletics for marketing at GVSU, said he checked across the country and could not find a football program that had tried such an event.

"We have a perfect situation for it," he said. "Our major target audience is to get the students to walk across campus, check out the facility and get to know the football team."

The marketing staff has come up with several fan-friendly wrinkles:

• The first 100 to arrive will receive a numbered tennis ball, which they will later throw on the field to try and hit and win one of several authentic Adidas Lakers' football jerseys.

• The first 500 to arrive will receive free "Fear the Vest" T-shirts, which feature a picture of a sweater vest similar to the type Martin wears on game days.

• Each fan will be assigned a number and name that coincides with a member of the Grand Valley team. If that player is profiled on the video board, those fans win a prize package.

• One fan will win a chance to travel with the team to its first game of the season at West Texas A&M on Aug. 29, in Canyon, Texas.

• All who attend will be given a voucher for a free breakfast at sponsoring Grand Coney restaurant in Allendale. The vouchers will be good from the end of the event through 8 a.m. Saturday.

Lipinski said he hopes it becomes a tradition.

"It's a way to say 'thank you' to the fans, a way to build the brand on campus and really a great way to meet the team," he said.

Martin promised 90 minutes of football compared to the usual 2-hour spring practices, and that most of the action will be in a competitive format.

"We will make it as interesting as possible," he said. "The fans can meet some of the guys they haven't seen before who might play a lot of football for us in the fall."